turn
tɜːrn
Why the same word steers a car and cools the weather
The picture Something swings around and ends up facing a new way. Change swaps the thing for a different one; turn leaves the thing and swings the way it faces.
Where the picture shows up in turn
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your body pivots
Turn left at the traffic light.
tɜːrn left ət ðə ˈtræfɪk laɪt
Take a left at the traffic light.
A walking body swings its shoulders around and heads left at the light.
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a switch pivots
Turn off the light before you leave.
tɜːrn ɔːf ðə laɪt bɪˈfɔːr juː liːv
Kill the light before you head out.
Fingers grip the switch and flip it over to the other side.
The picture comes from knobs you twisted on and off.
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the weather pivots
The weather turned cold last night.
ðə ˈweðər tɜːrnd koʊld læst naɪt
It got cold overnight.
Overnight the air swings from the warm side to the cold side.
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the page pivots
Please turn to page twelve.
pliːz tɜːrn tuː peɪdʒ twelv
Open your book to page twelve.
A page tips over under your thumb and the next one comes up.
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the turn comes around to you
It is your turn to pay.
ɪt ɪz jʊr tɜːrn tuː peɪ
You are the one paying this time.
The bill goes around the table and stops in front of you.
All of it in one picture
Turn is an arrow that swings around. Swing the body and you have a left at the light; swing the switch and the light goes out; swing the air overnight and the weather has changed; swing the page and page twelve comes up; let the bill swing around the table and the turn lands on you. Not five separate meanings — one pivot, laid on a body, a switch, the weather, a page, a table.